


Inevitably Intangible

by lesbijane



Category: Lumberjanes
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Forest is Slightly more terrifying than in canon, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:28:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24619108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesbijane/pseuds/lesbijane
Summary: To earn the Inevitably Intangible badge, a scout needs to be quick-witted and steadfast. The fear of the unknown is one of the most common phobias - some would argue that everyone is afraid of it! To truly overcome this, scouts need to be courageous even in the face of what they might think is danger. Although this badge is awarded to scouts who face their fear of something that isn't real, don't put pressure on yourself or others to earn it. This badge needs to be earned from a point of safety and support, because otherwise, the fear won't be truly conquered.
Relationships: Emily/Wren (Lumberjanes)
Kudos: 9





	Inevitably Intangible

**Author's Note:**

> I got terrified when reading about teenagers facing paranormal stuff in the woods and getting hurt from it, so I wrote about that happening (but then everything being ok) because I couldn't sleep! I barely even remember writing this.
> 
> Warning for slight blood. I really like thinking about the fear of the unknown.

“Please.” Emily’s voice was so quiet, Wren couldn’t even hear it – she could only barely fathom a guess from reading her lips.

She was saying more things. Wren could just look around at the woods behind her – far too deep than any scout should’ve gone. She already knew that there were dangerous things out here – she just never realized any of it could ever hurt her.

Wren wondered if she could hear it.

It was a scratching kind of sound, it always felt like it was just behind her, just hovering above her, just somewhere she couldn’t reach, an itch that persisted and persisted and persisted.

Emily’s eyes darted to the side.

“You need to get-“ Wren started, but noticed how quickly Emily tensed up as she said it.

She was talking too loud. Trying to say something quiet enough but also loud enough when she couldn’t hear herself felt like the time when her least favorite uncle tried throwing her a tennis ball, only shouting “ _Heads up!”_ As a warning. And then promptly getting hit in the head with a tennis ball.

Everything was too fast, she always messed up, and she couldn’t hear.

And it hurt.

She tried her best to be quieter than she thought she needed to be – “You need to get out of here.”

There was one word in Emily’s sentence that Wren could lip-read. _No._

Emily was trying to pull her back up, gripping her hands as tight as she could, catching her as she felt the sharp pain in her leg, nearly falling back over again.

But Emily’s arm was around her, trying to re-balance them both together, or just fall down along with her.

Wren gripped her shoulder for dear life. At least, she felt like it was.

The world felt like it was spinning around them. Wren wondered if this was what fainting felt like. Her ears were ringing. Her full weight was leaning on Emily, and even still, she felt like one step would make her crumple over like a twig.

It was above them. In the branches.

Emily was staring up at it. Her eyes looked like they were huge, like the drawings of aliens she doodled in the margins of her notebooks.

A drop of blood ran down from Emily’s nose, dripping down onto Wren’s sleeve. It felt warm.

Wren didn’t want to look at whatever it was. She couldn’t see it, but it was loud, and she could still hear it between the screech of her aids, the sound that wouldn’t go away even when she turned them off. Turning them louder just made its voice clearer. She didn’t want to give it that luxury.

Emily was holding her hand. Between the noise and the dizziness and the shaking of everything around her, Wren hadn’t noticed when. Her nails were digging so much into Emily’s hand that she knew they’d left marks. She hoped she could apologize later.

Emily was talking to it. Wren could tell from the way she was breathing. Blood kept dripping onto her sleeve, bit by bit. She wondered if the stain would be permanent. Or maybe it’d all just get washed out, left with no trace this ever really happened.

It was laughing at her. It was laughing at her for being upset. It was laughing at her for being vulnerable. It was laughing at her for trying to comfort, to be comforted. It was laughing at her for caring.

Hands shaking together, Wren held Emily’s hand up to her face, almost-kissing it, almost-not, just in case. Just holding it close enough to touch. Hoping for something, anything, but also giving a gap of space, in case that was too close.

It didn’t care about the affection.

It didn’t care that Emily could stand taller, that she could actually shout back when she was holding Wren close enough to her. It didn’t care that Wren was still managing to stand because she didn’t want to leave Emily alone to face it.

It said to her again and again that it didn’t matter how warm her smile was, it didn’t matter that she could listen to her for hours, what kind of person clings to love in a world that’s just doomed to die? Shouldn’t she of all people understand this?

Wren yelled at it.

No words. No pain. Just noise. Emily’s eyes snapped back to her, and the static that was ringing through her ears became silent. She couldn’t see it, but it could see her. More importantly, it could hear her.

Emily paused for a second, transfixed, before letting go of Wren’s hand. Without looking at her, Emily signed clunkily, quickly – “Running.”

Wren felt a jolt of fear as she wondered what she’d done, and wobbled. She had to run, but she knew she twisted her ankle running before, and all that did for her was accidentally twisting herself from Emily’s grip and falling back onto the ground.

A bird flew overhead, a silhouette in front of the stars. Emily was sitting down in front of her again. She was looking at something on the horizon.

Vanessa. Once she was close enough, Wren could recognize her as easily as she could recognize her own parents.

Vanessa crouched down next to them both, and Wren signed as well as she could while the constellations above kept spinning. “We’re alive. I’m hurt. Is it gone?”

“It’s gone,” Vanessa signed back, before looking up to say something to Emily, continuing to sign what she was saying, “What was that?”

“I don’t know,” Wren replied.

“We’ll need to get you to the nurse,” said Vanessa, signed, before trying her best to help Wren up. She looked at Emily, and said something out loud, no longer signing since both her hands were being used to hold Wren up.

“I want to go home,” Wren signed.

Vanessa nodded. Wren could read her lips this time – “Me, too.”

Wren could almost walk now that she had the support. Emily wiped her face on her sleeve.

Emily signed again, slow and thoughtful, “Let’s get back to the-“ She frowned, and spelt out, “C-a-b-i-n.”

Wren smiled. A tired smile, but still a smile.

“Yeah.”


End file.
